Do you remember the end of the world craze of 2000? Nowadays, it has become something like a tradition to have a different prophecy every year for a supposed apocalypse, and while the Y2K wasn’t even close to be the first one, it sure was the most memorable one of that generation. But not at all for me; because shortly after I (like pretty much everyone else) survived the end of days, a new threat to our existence crept closer.

You know what I’m talking about, the menacing Moon looming above in the skies of Termina. You see, months before the release of Majora’s Mask, I was reading an article about it in some gaming magazine and there was a bit of text that stuck in my head tormenting me day after day. My memory may be a little blurry after all these years, but I clearly remember reading something about the moon (our moon, not the one in the game) having left its orbit and drifting towards Earth, a collision that would undoubtedly be catastrophic. According to the article and its sources, the crash would take place on October 26 of that same year. Sound familiar? That’s because it is the same date when Majora’s Mask was released in North America. At that moment, I thought Nintendo had picked that date to release the game because of the cataclysmic event, which now that I think about it, really didn’t make much sense, but considering I was still somehow traumatized by the Y2K prophecies, I was really expecting anything for all that year.

That night, I had a dream where I was at the terrace of my old house. It was late at night, and I looked at the sky and saw a moon like I had never seen before: huge and bright, menacing, and unsettlingly beautiful. I remembered about the article I read, but I was too fascinated to be scared. I just stared at it, thinking about what would happen, until I woke up.

After that, I counted the days until October, and I even remember hearing about someone’s birthday being exactly on the 26th and thinking “Poor fools, if they only knew what’s coming…”. Anyway, time passed, and the day arrived and, well, as you might guessed, nothing happened. Or if something happened, we survived. And now, every time I play the game, or see anything about it, I remember that article and that dream I had, and everything it made me feel, and it’s what has always terrified me about Majora’s Mask, even before it was released. Also there’s that scene with Pamela’s father, but that’s a different tale!